The convincing win was a far cry from the insipid football that has characterised much of Van Gaal's United reign so far, with the former champions playing with a verve and flair underpinned by a solid defence.

Victory over Liverpool saw United open up a five-point gap over their fifth-placed rivals in the battle for a top-four spot, with Van Gaal's side now only two points behind second-placed Manchester City, with eight games left.

At Anfield, Van Gaal kept faith with the same starting line-up that beat Tottenham 3-0, which did not include Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao or injured striker Robin van Persie, arguably three of United's biggest names.

Although Di Maria came on and provided the assist for Mata's spectacular second, it is hard to see United's record £59.7million signing walking straight back into the side, given the convincing manner of the win.

And Carrick claimed the fact United can win so well at Liverpool, without players of the calibre of Di Maria, Van Persie and Falcao in the starting line-up, demonstrates the strength of the squad under Van Gaal.

“I think it tells you about the squad and the strength in depth,” said Carrick, who has signed a one-year contract extension with United. “What more can you say?

(Image: Matthew Peters)

“Listen, those boys [Di Maria, Van Persie and Falcao] are all top players, but I think we've got a number of players the manager can choose from, which is great.

“Sometimes different games throw up different scenarios and different systems maybe, but the last two games have gone very well for us.

“We see in training, when we have games, that both teams are pretty equal, when we have 11 versus 11, because that's the strength of our squad now. A lot of players have had game time this year and that does bring options.”

One player who has had to be patient in recent weeks is Mata, who was on the bench for United's six games prior to the wins over Spurs and Liverpool, the latter his best game since his £37.5m move from Chelsea.

(Image: Reuters)

But the diminutive Spaniard proved his enduring worth to United with his match-winning display against Liverpool, which came as no surprise to his team-mates, who see his qualities every day in training.

“He's always been a great player,” said Carrick. “I think he's always been important to us because he brings so much to the team and so much ability.

“You've seen it all there, in terms of what he brings to us, and I thought he was terrific. I thought his overall play was good and he obviously scored both goals.

“I thought the first one was a really good finish and the second one was sensational. He's just so clever. He moves the ball, takes up good positions, he's dangerous and just so intelligent.

(Image: Getty)

“He has such a slight frame so he's not going to have a physical presence, but he more than makes up for that with his general ability and how he plays the game. He's just a joy to watch.

“All players have ups and downs throughout their careers and you can’t look at any player and say any different. But you can't look past his quality - that's why he's here and he's here for a reason.

“He's such a good player and performances like that don’t surprise me because performances like that are exactly what he's all about.”